Let’s face it: beef burgers can be a bit boring. Sure, they are the go-to burger type, and when done well they are great, but most of the time they aren’t – they’re usually dry, or thin, or under-seasoned and no one wants an underseasoned slab of beef. They’re also pretty fatty. A tuna burger, on the other hand, is easy to make, very flavoursome and healthy. So move over beef, there’s a new burger in town.
What you’ll need for four tuna burgers
- 600g tuna. Fresh is best, but tinned will do fine
- A lemon
- A chilli
- 4 spring onions, chopped
- 1 handful of basil
- 1 handful of mint
- A pinch of coriander
How to make them
1. First, you need to create the flavour base for your burger. To do this, throw the leaves from the herbs, chopped spring onions and chilli into a food processor with the zest of your lemon. Blitz this until everything is ground fine. If you don’t like things too hot, then leave out the chilli seeds.
2. Now, chuck in the tuna (if it’s a steak then chop it first) and coriander, before blitzing the whole lot together into a relatively smooth paste. If everything isn’t coming together, break an egg in and blitz once more.
3. Take the mixture out and divide it into four patties, which you should then place in the fridge for a half an hour so they get good and firm.
4. When you’re ready to cook, heat a griddle pan (or the BBQ) until very hot, put a little oil in the pan and fry the burgers for two minutes on each side. Tuna can be relatively lightly cooked, but if you want them a bit more done then another minute each side will do that for you.
5. Now, they are ready to serve. In our view, these go best with a little bit of mayo (garlic mayo is best if you have it!), a toasted brioche bun and some tomato. Obviously, being a fish burger, cheese is not invited to the party.
Can’t find any tuna? No problem
If you can’t get hold of tuna, then other fish will do the job pretty well. Particularly good are haddock, tilapia or salmon, although none of these is quite as strongly flavoured as tuna and you might need to add some breadcrumbs to make the burgers a little less flaky.
You can also get a really good tuna burger at 25 Degrees Burgers & Liquor Bar. The place does great fries as well, with either truffle or the ‘filthy fries’, which are topped with bacon gravy, cheese and caramelised onion.
